Category Archives: Thrifty finds

Dec25

I’ve been posting . . . Periodically!

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I’ve been posting . . . Periodically!

This is an oldie but a goodie.  At one point in time a few years ago, I was in search of a new coffee table.  It struck me at the time how boring most coffee tables are, and the ones that aren’t boring are usually hideous.  Neither option appealed to me or my living room decor!

So I got to thinking about making a unique coffee table and I just couldn’t stop thinking “Periodic Table.”  I considered creating a coffee table with the standard-issue chemistry class periodic table, but then I stumbled across this GENIUS project:  http://azuregrackle.com/periodictable/table/, and I knew immediately what I would do.  I tracked down a super-boring but high quality oak coffee table and used paint, paper, and Mod Podge to transform it into my own Periodic Coffee Table of the Elements.  Behold!

And here are a few closeups of my favorite elements (well, not favorite ELEMENTS, because I love all the elements equally [doesn't everybody?], but my favorite PRINTS of the elements):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the interest of education, I’ll leave it to you to discover what the more cryptic of these elements are.  Please visit the project website, too, for more information:  http://azuregrackle.com/periodictable/table/.  I believe they may even sell prints of certain of the elements.

Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

Mar3

You’ve Got Mail

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You’ve Got Mail

Collections are dangerous things.  They can push you precariously close to hoarding status, as well as bankruptcy, especially if you choose to collect something like Faberge eggs!  Holidays and birthdays are dangerous territory also, when your well-meaning friends and relatives give you items that they’re just sure “will be great in your collection!” but that you NEVER would have purchased yourself, collector or no.  It can be dicey!   

I’ve been pretty lucky and careful in my collecting life.  I can usually tell when it gets to the tipping point of buying for quantity versus quality of the collection, and I can rein myself in, in most cases.  One of those cases is my vintage mailbox collection.

Snail mail has always been a love of mine, starting back when it was just known as “mail.”  I love the look of stamps and postmarks and most things postal (except “going postal,” of course, to which I am opposed).  Years ago, just because it was cool looking, I bought a glass mailbox that has “Visual Mail” embossed on the front.  Little did I know it was a collection seed!

Most of my collection today resides in my small entryway, hanging on corrugated metal (another love of mine) within a homemade frame.  Yesterday, I finally got my entryway painted and am no longer ashamed to post pictures of it!  Behold!

Here are a few closeups of my favorite bits and pieces:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The quail were thrift store finds, and they are salt and pepper shakers.  I think they single-handedly created the blood pressure problem in this country, because they are huge!  They could each hold about half of a salt container!  Perhaps we could just say they’re efficient, because you’d only have to refill them once a year.  Maybe you could even develop an annual family ritual – The Filling of the Quail.

I love the designs on the feathers and of course the plumes on their heads are awesome!

I have a few other mailboxes that may end up on a different wall.  One of my favorites was a gift from my parents, which was a homemade job that reads “We Shoot Every Third Salesman.  The Second One Just Left.”  Ha!  A simple No Soliciting sign would have sufficed!

Well, thanks for stopping by!  I hope your Spring is happy, healthy, and productive.

Feb3

I’ll Get the Chair for This

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I’ll Get the Chair for This

Can you keep a secret?  I mean, really, like not tell ANYONE?  Cuz it looks like I may have committed a crime and I have to get it off my chest.  Can I trust you?

Oh geez, put the phone down, I’m just talking about a design crime.  And no jury in the world would convict me after it sees the evidence!  I’ll leave it up to you.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I present to you Exhibit One:

An unassuming chair that had seen better days, but with fine lines and a proud lineage.

Suspecting a design icon in the rough, Ms. Palooza purchased this chair for the (what should probably also be criminal!) low price of $7.00 and spirited it away to a location she refers to as Craft Purgatory.  Ominous, no?

Her internet research turned up a very similar specimen, designated as a Saarinen office chair by Knoll.

However, the chair in her possession bore a brand name of Virco and had only four casters, not five.  Additionally, when Ms. Palooza viciously tore into the chair with a screwdriver and pliers, this is what she found:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The chair literally fell apart in her hands and spewed ancient upholstery foam debris (see second picture above) throughout her house.  After a halfhearted attempt at DIY upholstery, Ms. Palooza had it professionally reupholstered and now it looks like this!

Here endeth the Perry Mason (yes, I am 67 years old) bit.

So I bought this chair at a thrift store and it was disgusting.  I tell myself it’s a Saarinen knockoff so I can sleep at night, but I know there are design purists out there who are probably crying, “Sacrilege!”  In any case, I think it looks great!  i’d love to hear what you think, even if it involves design prison!

Thanks for stopping by!

Dec13

Daydream Believer

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Daydream Believer

When I need a mindless websurfing target, Craigslist is a favorite.  I like to pretend that I have an enormous climate-controlled workshop, an endless supply of cash, and an insanely popular brick-and-mortar shop, and I consider the transformations I would perform on the listings under the Furniture For Sale section.  Make no mistake – some of the listings make me daydream about a large bucket to heave into.  But some of them are real gems, real cheap!

Before we go any further, though, I have a warrant to serve from the Grammar Police.  The following seem to be frequent infractions on Craigslist, so I want to warn any of my fellow officers to gird your loins before you go a-surfing.

It’s WROUGHT iron, people!  Not ROD iron, or worse, ROT iron!

They’re called DRAWERS, not DRAWS!

The other side of that coin:  it’s a chest OF drawers, not a CHESTER DRAWERS!

I could go on for pages, but I’ll spare you any further tirade.  It’s my personal burden to bear . . . .

On to the furniture!  Here are a few examples from the Las Vegas craigslist website and what I dream of doing to them (that sounds naughty!):

This headboard is just begging for some paint.  I think you’ll find that’s a common thread in all my Craigslist daydreams.  Seriously, though, can’t you imagine glossy white paint on this?  Or a gorgeous turquoise (I don’t care if it is played out)?  Lime green, hot pink, glossy black – any of these would be gorgeous on these curves.  Not all at the same time, though; we’re going for hip and cool, not insomnia-inducing.

This set would also receive some latex loving.  I think it would be great in a deep gray, with a bright, funky fabric on the chair.  I would try painting or Rub-and-Buffing the current drawer handles silver.  Sigh…I’m imagining penning a note to Mr. Darcy at this little number.

Oops, I went a little Pride and Prejudice on ya for a second!  :)

I’m not usually a fan of brass-type beds, but this one has just enough spunk for me.  I would (of course) paint it, but first I would find a funky-cool quilt that would go on it and choose one of the colors in the quilt to use on it.  Something Garnet Hill-ish or Anthropologie would do nicely.  Like a quilt with aqua, orange, hot pink, and lime green, and paint this headboard glossy orange.  Yes!

This chair is just unusual enough to have me intrigued.  First I would do a little research on it to see if I could live with myself after painting it.  If it’s a rare or significant piece, I would probably leave it as is and just put it up for sale in my (imaginary) resale shop.  However, if it’s a post-acid trip creation from 1973, I would paint it glossy white or aqua with a bright fabric on the seat; I’m sure Amy Butler has a design that would work well!  Are you sensing a theme?  “Paint, apply bright fabric, rinse, repeat.”

The detail on this headboard would look AWESOME with a cool paint job.  Maybe bright yellow…?  I know a lot of people use distressing and/or wax or glazes to highlight details like this, and I think that looks good if done sparingly.  I have yet to try it myself, but if I had that workshop, who knows what techniques I’d try!

The beauty of this chair is that it looks to be in great shape and would also be a cinch to upholster.  A cinch, I tell you!  Plus, this style of chair would fit in almost any but the most modern of rooms.  Even without any tweaking it could play a respectable supporting role in an eclectic living room or bedroom, but I’ve got this giant workshop and nothing but cash and time on my hands, right?  A girl can dream….

See previous brass/wrought iron bed.  Oooo, how about painting it a bright coral color?

Okay, up until now, the items I’ve shown were below $100 each, which makes them steals in my book.  The next photo is kind of a red herring because it’s not only way out of that price range at $400, it’s also not something I would come NEAR with a paintbrush!  Feast your eyes on this baby:

Do you hear angels singing?  I sure do.  Heavy                heavy                SIGH.  Gorgeous.

Well, I hope you don’t think I cheated by not actually (re)DOING anything for today’s blog post, but I just wanted to share my Craigslist lust (Craigslust?) with you guys!  These pictures all came from posts on Las Vegas Craigslist, and I’ll be glad to forward the links to anyone interested.  If you buy the yellow chair, can I come over and soak in its aura?

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Nov14

Green with Amy

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Green with Amy

One of my favorite ways to start a project is with a piece that’s already not hideous.  Don’t get me wrong – it’s fun to take a crime against humanity and attempt a reformation on it.  I mean, there’s nowhere to go but up in those cases, and if I screw it up, I haven’t committed some mortal decor sin.  But the ante is upped when I come across a little item like this set of shelves, that is already pretty cute by itself:

But I couldn’t leave well enough alone, now could I?  What kind of blog would this be if I didn’t do anything to gems such as this?  It would be a shopping blog.  And frankly, I can’t muster up much more than “Look what I bought!” when it comes to writing about shopping, so lucky for all of us, I went to town on this bad boy!

I’ve been painting by hand lately and I’m kind of liking it.  Please don’t tell spray paint that I’m seeing paint in a can on the side, but we’ve got something special, I think.  I feel more connected to pieces that I paint by hand, and I don’t look like a doorknob, standing in my garage in my spray painting getup for all the world to see.  Spray painting getup = flannel pants, sweatshirt, slippers, crazy morning hair, and mask.  I think it’s the reason I don’t know any of my neighbors…!

At any rate, I painted these shelves “Gilded Pesto” by Valspar and then introduced them to Amy Butler in the form of scrapbook paper.  Of course, our friend Mod Podge came to the party, sealing the paper on the back of each shelf.  Et voila!

And then we had a couple knickknacks get in on the action:  my little Asian guy who is a salt shaker without his mate (I wonder if he was seeing Cayenne on the side and Black Pepper ditched him!), and a singing bowl.  If you’ve never seen or heard a singing bowl, I highly recommend them.  I love to just close my eyes, strike the bowl, and listen to the ringing, which will go on what seems like forever.  It’s very soothing!  And decorative!  :)

I like to think I improved upon an already cute little set of shelves.  They didn’t need much help and easily could have gone other design directions (shabby chic, anyone?  Or shabby “sheik,” as I saw it referred to recently?!), but I am of the opinion that adding Amy Butler to a project is always a step in the right direction!

Thanks for stopping by!

Oct22

Faux Federalist

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Faux Federalist

It’s almost Halloween and everywhere you turn people are wearing disguises and becoming someone they’re not.  Like this cabinet – it was so thoroughly disguised that everyone thought it was a forgettable, pseudo-Federalist tchotchke holder and passed it by.

But Halloween is only one day a year and eventually the disguise has to come off!

Okay, enough of the metaphor.  I thought this cabinet was boring, so I ripped off the embellishment on the top, painted the cabinet, Mod Podged fabric on the back, and installed a glass knob from Hobby Lobby.  I like it a lot more and I hope you do, too!

I also hope your Halloween costume is better than a boring thrift-store cabinet…!

Linked up at:

HookingupwithHoH         Photobucket

Oct8

Fall in Reverse

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Fall in Reverse

There was a time in my life when I would have given up in the middle of this project. I wasn’t really feeling it, it was kind of driving me crazy, and I was tired! BUT I have finally learned to listen to that voice inside that knew what this could be, so I pressed on. Here’s where I started:

I think they may be vintage Ikea pieces, but I’m not sure. I say that like they’re so hoity-toity or something – “ohh, dahhhling, I luuuv your new Ikea pieces! Will you hang them next to your Picasso?” But I didn’t care if they WERE fine art, I was going to pimp them out! I seem to be on a paint chip roll lately, so I went with it. And here’s what happened!

They’re going to hang in my new office at work and the paint chips match the colors in my new fabric panels and the clock in the previous post. People at work are going to think I have stock in Valspar or something. Hmmm, now that I think of it, that may not be such a bad idea! :)

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

I’m linking this project up at:
HouseofHepworths and Todays Creative Blog

Sep25

Half Past Aquamarine

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Half Past Aquamarine

Okay, I can’t claim the idea for this, but I did do all the figuring, geometry (!), and cutting to make it happen, so I’m proud to share it with you.

The population of my office at work recently dropped from 2 to 1 people, and the number of upholstery-worthy panels grew from zero to two, so I’m changing things up a bit.  And by “changing things up” I mean decorating that which has never been decorated before!  I covered the panels with the fabric shown below, which served as inspiration for the color palette of the clock.  I think this fun pattern will be so much nicer to look at than the mauvey-gray commercial grade weave that’s underneath!

Tomorrow is installation day – if I can, I’ll snap a pic to share later.  I hope you like my “chromatic clock”!  Thanks for stopping by!

I’m linking up to

The DIY Show Off

Sep13

Dirty old grandfather

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Dirty old grandfather

So this dirty (and fuzzy!) old grandfather reached out and touched me in the thrift store!  After I recovered from the shock, I took a closer look and thought I saw something there….

Yeah, no wonder he ended up in the thrift store – you can’t keep a dirty old man like this around the house for long.  The material behind the brass clock face looks like…copper, maybe?  Or tooled leather?  WRONG.  It’s some kind of weird, probably carcinogenic plastic that was melding with the board behind it.  Shoulda worn my hazmat suit while ripping it off, but I’m impatient a daredevil!

Following the required quarantine in Craft Purgatory, I put on my psychologist hat and decided to reform him into a fresh, modern metrosexual!!!  I cleaned him up, gave him a new suit, and will soon send him on his way via etsy or Craigslist.

Here’s a closer look at his clean new face!

That’s a Mod Podged fat quarter up in there.  Seriously, is there anything Mod Podge CAN’T do?

Hope you enjoyed this heartwarming story of reforming a wayward grandfather into a productive (and punctual!) member of society.  See you soon!

This project was featured!

 

I linked up to:

and

Sep6

Footstool Fetish

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Footstool Fetish

Here’s a quickie – I’m still recovering from a long weekend in the Midwest!

Found this sad, brokedown footstool in the thrift store for five American dollars.  It needed love and I was just the woman to love it!

Obviously this baby came up short in the padding department (she could learn a thing or two from a junior high girl!), so I tore into that fabric and started from scratch.  I had some excellent leftover foam from the cat bed project, so I cut that down to size and wrapped it up in some medium-loft batting.  I was able to shop my craft room for the fabric and was delighted to find that all I’d need was a fat quarter of the cute, bright owl pattern I ended up with.

Meanwhile, the legs got a makeover,too – a coat of paint that I also had on hand resulted in this Extreme Makeover, Footstool Edition!  She’ll be available in my etsy shop (update – she found a new home!) soon, if anyone can’t live without her.  Hope everyone had a happy, healthy Labor Day.  :)

This project linked up to